Mexican drug lord El Mayo sentenced to life imprisonment in the United States

Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, co-founder of the Sinaloa cartel, was sentenced Tuesday to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole by a U.S. federal court. The 76-year-old will also have to pay $15 billion in forfeited assets.

Federal Judge Brian Cogan left no room for doubt: "The quantity of drugs attributable to him and the number of murders we can document are sufficient to justify Congress's decision to impose a mandatory life sentence." Ismael Zambada, known as "El Mayo," has been among the Mexican drug traffickers most wanted by U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies for decades.

Before the verdict was announced, the 70-year-old addressed the court to apologize. "I apologize for the harm I caused and for the example I set," he said, calling on future generations to "choose a different path." The day before, he had acknowledged his responsibility in court: "I grew up in an environment where violence and crime seemed normal, but I now know that this is no excuse. There comes a time when everyone must take responsibility for their decisions. I didn't, and many people have paid the price."

Zambada pleaded guilty to several charges, including participation in a continuing criminal enterprise and racketeering conspiracy, admitting guilt in 85 underlying crimes. In return, the prosecution waived its request for the death penalty. According to prosecutors, he ordered acts of torture and orchestrated murders, including that of his own nephew, while the cartel flooded the U.S. market with tons of cocaine, fentanyl, methamphetamine, and other drugs.

U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. summed up the record: nearly four decades of "poisoning American communities" for profit, eliminating anyone who stood in its way.

Zambada was arrested in July 2024 under circumstances he disputes. He claims he was kidnapped in Mexico before being forcibly transported to Texas. His arrest coincided with that of Joaquin Guzman Lopez, one of the sons of his former associate Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who also pleaded guilty to federal drug trafficking charges and is still awaiting sentencing.

Together, Zambada and El Chapo built the Sinaloa cartel into one of the most powerful drug trafficking organizations in the world. El Chapo, sentenced to life imprisonment in 2019, is serving his sentence at the Florence Federal Penitentiary in Colorado. Zambada thus joins his former partner among the cartel leaders sentenced to spend the rest of their lives behind American bars.

Zambada's arrest caused a rift within the Sinaloa cartel, pitting its supporters against those loyal to El Chapo's sons, nicknamed the "Chapitos." The cartel is also among the six Mexican criminal organizations that the US president... Donald Trump designated them as foreign terrorist organizations.